6 [ 10.97 GEOGRAPHY : SOMALILAND Parts of it are sandy desert, but most of it is wooded with thorn -bush intersected with vast grass plains, such as the Marar prairie near Hargeisa.

Coast The coast is about 400 miles in length. From Loyi Ada, on the frontier of French Somaliland , it runs in a south -easterly direction to Bulhar, about 90 miles, thence east for about 40 miles to Berbera, and then generally east -north - east for about 270 miles to Bandar Ziada, near the frontier of Italian Somaliland. In a few places the shore is rocky, and there are insignificant bays and headlands, but generally it consists of a low, sandy, unbroken beach. There are no large headlands or gulfs, and the whole coast is exposed to winds from the north, east, and west ; it is also encumbered in many places by shoals and reefs. There are a few islands near Zeila , and one, Mait ( 11° 13' N. and 47° 13' E. ), in the east, on which a considerable quantity of guano is collected for export.

River System Rivers fall from the northern scarp of the interior plateau into the Gulf of Aden , and from its southern slopes into the Indian Ocean. They are all inter mittent and are dry during the greater part of the year, although the upper reaches of some which flow from the Warsangeli Mountains to the Gulf of Aden are believed to contain perennial water. In times of flood many of the rivers have a great volume of water.

(3 ) CLIMATE Very few meteorological observations have been made. The climate of the maritime zone is markedly